The Malahit (Malachite) SDR is a very compact radio hosted in an aluminium case only 100×74×27mm in size.
The version I've bought is manufactured in China but the design
originated from Russia. The schematic is almost identical to the
original except
some PCB connectors (J5 & J7). The RF front-end is minimal, just a wideband
pre-amp (BGA614) and some LC Π
filters (0-12MHz-30MHz-60MHz-120MHz-250MHz-1GHz-2GHz) to separate the huge
frequency range. An
optional board
with better filtration and another narrower pre-amp for the HF bands can be
connected via J7 and is inserted in front of the antenna connector. On this
chinese clone the Vbat signal is missing so you need to connect it from
elsewhere (and there isn't sufficient space inside the case for another PCB
anyways).
A translated manual is
also available.
A few things that I dislike on this SDR:
- the touchscreen is resistive, imprecise and it struggles to register presses
- the encoder wheels often skip increments (badly written software)
- the 22MHz oscillator frequency drifts especially after power on
- the speaker is on the back so you cannot lay the SDR on a desk because the sound will be completely muffled
Even with the above annoyances I think it is an excellent deal to get a portable SDR in an aluminum case for just 82$ delivered.
